My So-Called Life's A.J. Langer Borrowed a Bodysuit from Brittany Murphy to Audition for Rayanne (Exclusive)

When AJ Langer auditioned for My so-called life, she was originally up for the role of Angela Chase – a role that eventually went to Claire Danes. But when she learned that Rayanne Graff’s character hadn’t been cast yet, Langer did everything she could to make a good impression on the casting director.

“I just said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to make this happen,’” she tells PEOPLE in a new interview. “I went to Brittany Murphy’s house, borrowed a bodysuit with a zipper, then borrowed my brother’s Levi’s jeans and a pair of Doc Martens, drew a line on my eye and entered. I took my picture off my resume because my picture was quite conservative, and I was hoping they wouldn’t remember me, which is always a good thing. When you don’t get something, they usually don’t remember you.”

When she read for Rayanne, Langer, 50, “felt so good.”

“The next thing I remembered was that I was testing and something happened when I was going up the elevator. I got out of the elevator, and that patience, that Rayanne waddling, that thing happened in my body,” says the actress, adding, “For me personally, it was so magical to find that it was a character that suited me… And I think it was the beginning of my studies [there were] whole sides of myself that I haven’t yet accessed and that Rayanne will help me unlock.”

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Claire Danes and AJ Langer in ‘My So-Called Life’.

Mark Seliger/Disney General Entertainment via Getty

Although My so-called life canceled after just one season, Langer made an indelible mark as her character, with acting highlights including episode 10, “Other People’s Mothers,” in which Rayanne overdosed. It was a powerful moment of coverage of a topic that had rarely been dealt with before with teenagers on TV.

“As far as drugs and overdoses go, it’s not something I’ve ever experienced. But I researched what these drugs do, what the effect is, and then I mixed that with Rayanne’s personality,” she recalls, saying she “threw herself” “on this character.”

Another acting highlight for Langer occurred in episode 17, “Betrayal”. After Rayanne sleeps with Jordan Catalano (played by Jared Leto), she and Angela share a touching moment rehearsing a scene from the 1938 play. Our City Thornton Wilder. As Rayanne performed on stage at Liberty High School, her lines in the scene — “Take me back,” she begged — stirred emotions in her and Angela, who realized their friendship was now broken by Rayanne’s actions.

“There was so much to it, besides the simplicity of it, and the fact that you don’t want to take your eyes off Claire, even though Rayanne was so hard to watch,” he explains. “The lines from that scene stayed with me forever.”

“I think Rayanne was one of those people who feels everything — for better and for worse, it’s a lot to feel everything,” she continues. “So I think that moment was brilliant.”

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AJ Langer, Claire Danes and Wilson Cruz in ‘My So-Called Life’.

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Danes recalls the brilliance that creator and writer Winnie Holzman achieved in creating that scene.

“It was so clever, and so was the premise,” Danes, 45, tells PEOPLE. “A play within a play, Hamlet the storytelling style that Winnie achieves there that they communicate with each other tacitly through that other story. It’s a really imaginative way for them to communicate with each other indirectly and for us to understand where they are with each other and their relationship at that moment. And it’s also completely believable. Every high school puts on a play every year, which is so rooted in reality, and it’s also a skillful way to get into their relationship, into their friendship.”

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These days, Langer (who became a countess and moved to England) prioritizes time with her teenage children, Joscelyn, 17, and Jack, 15, who she shares with her estranged husband Charles Courtenay, 19th Earl of Devon, “before head out into the world.” She also works to empower women in the social enterprise space.

Whenever fans stop her, she says they remark on how the show has helped them through difficult discussions.

“A lot of people say, ‘I couldn’t even talk to my kids about these things, but we sat and watched the series together, and then we could talk about how to start,'” she says. “It’s really cool that it meant so much to so many people, because it definitely meant so much to me.” All 19 episodes My so-called life are available to stream on Hulu.

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Source: HIS Education